Recipes

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Broccoli Mushroom Pasta in a creamy tomato sauce

I hardly ever get pasta right. After talking to my good friend, I got some great tips. So today I got down to making some pasta. The conversation went something like this
Pras : "What is for dinner today?"
Moi : "Pasta. Shall we eat early today?"
Pras : "Yeah. I don't like your pasta so I will eat something else later."

Well, he did not eat anything else later. But, he licked the bowl clean. I've none left to carry to work for lunch tomorrow. So here's how I made the yummy pasta. I unfortunately don't have a picture that does real justice to it.

3 Amul Cheese slices - I did not have any other cheese at hand. You could replace this with any cheese of
your choice.
1 packet button mushrooms
1 small head of broccoli
100 g pasta of your choice - I used spirali - you could use more pasta. Ours had more veggies just the way I
like it to be so
4-5 cauliflower florets(optional)
2 tbsp fresh cream - you could use milk
Salt to taste
3tbsp extra virgin olive oil - use any vegetable oil available at hand
1tsp red chilli powder - optional

How I made it :
1. Cook pasta as per instructions on pack.
2. Clean the mushrooms and quarter them
3. Boil the cauliflower and broccoli florets in turmeric water to get rid of any worms, if present. Drain the water after 2 minutes of boiling. This could be done in parallel with step 1.
4. Heat oil in a vessel. This too could be done in parallel with step 1 after completing step 3.
5. Pour in the ground paste and let it cook for about 8-10 minutes on low flame.
6. Once it gets kind of dry, drop in the mushrooms. Fry till mushrooms are 3/4th cooked.
7. Drop in the broccoli and cauliflower florets.
8. Add salt to taste.
9. I also added a teaspoon of red chilli powder as I felt it was not that spicy. Always remember to keep tasting your food at each and every step. One of my friends knows whether the salt is sufficient or not from the smell of the food - I mean WOW!!!
10. The mushrooms would've left some liquid out. Melt in the cheese into this. Add the fresh cream too. Be careful as to not let the cheese stick to the bottom/sides of the pan/vessel.
11. Cook till the sauce thickens. Add the pasta and mix well. Adjust salt. Mine was of a more runny consistency when I turned off the stove. The sauce thickened as it cooled. So please bear this in mind when deciding when to turn off the heat.
12. Garnish with fresh chopped dill leaves. Dill can be very over powering and requires some getting used to. Use accordingly. You could also use freshly chopped coriander leaves.